All news

Kremlin says Gorbachev was 'gullible' to believe West's promises NATO wouldn't expand

Before what happened in 2014, "everything was disguised by fine diplomatic curtseys, empty declarations, hidden by non-working, non-existent formats," Dmitry Peskov noted

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The West deluded the former Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who was a "gullible man," when it promised NATO would not expand, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"They don’t tell you that after the [collapse] of the Soviet Union, when Russia emerged, NATO, with its military potential expanded toward Russia’s borders six times. Six times! They deceived Gorbachev because he was a gullible man.We had, so to speak, a honeymoon with the West when we thought that they are romantic, honest and committed to their word," he said, adding that it "should be categorized as a big lie."

Before what happened in 2014, "everything was disguised by fine diplomatic curtseys, empty declarations, hidden by non-working, non-existent formats," he noted. "And they are lying that there have never been nine waves of NATO expansion."